SAO: Admin
by RoboDragon
Summary: Most people think that Kayaba was the only person in SAO who was in control, but that wasn't true. He had helper in the background to manage the things he couldn't get to. This is the story of SAO from an Admin's perspective. Rated T for future content
1. We Are The Admin

**A/N: Hello everyone! Welcome to my first story EVER! Mostly I've been reading a lot of fan fiction and I said to myself "Let's try writing something" and here I am now. Since this is my first story I'll make this short. Please R&R so I know how to improve my writing skills. Now, on with the show… err, story.**

**Legal stuff I am forced to say: I do not own SAO or any of its characters. I only own my OCs**

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><p>Akihiko Kayaba stood in front of our team of four to give out our assignments and orders to execute in the game Sword Art Online.<p>

"You all are to be the moderators and admins while the game is in progress. In order for the game to run as smoothly as possible, I hired you to watch over the system of the game while I am disguised as my character Heathcliff" Kayaba said.

He gave us our positions and usernames, I was going to be in charge of general player monitoring. My brother Xavier was put in charge of checking the cardinal system and technical part of the game. Our other two coworker, both female were put in charge of the player death system and the leaderboards and a general secretary for the rest of us, their names were Ruby and Sophie (respectively). We all move to the life support room so we could all get hooked up to our Nerve Gear rigs.

"Hey Brad, come here for a second" My brother said.

"Yeah, what's up?" I replied.

"Well I was thinking, why are we even doing this? Why are we trapping about ten thousand people in a game and forcing them to play it?"

I thought about that for a second. His question made some sense in a way. "Really, I don't think I have an answer for that."

Kayaba came up to us and said "It's because we are creating a world that we can control, a world that we decide what the fate is."

Now that really got me thinking. A world that I could change at my will, all that power in the palm of my hand. The only downfall is that my actions could determine whether someone lived or died. Is this how God feel most of the time?

As Kayaba and Xavier continued their conversation over the sanity of the game I went over to Sophie and Ruby who were talking about what their username would be.

"Maybe we could make it have to do with something about our position" Sophie said.

"Well what's a name that has to do with the death of others?" Ruby asked.

"Yami," I said "it means darkness in Japanese. It could refer to the fact that after the player dies all they see is darkness, which just so happens to be a beautiful women."

"Well that's very sweet and creepy thing to say. Thanks." Ruby replied.

"What about me, what could my name be?"

"Well, you'll be sending out a lot of information all over the game so how about Iris, after the Greek goddess of messengers." I said.

"That's a cool way to see my position, I love it!" Sophie replied.

"So what's your name going to be Brad?" Ruby asked.

"Well since I don't actual have an aspect for my job I came up with something completely original, Bromious."

That was a name that had used in most of the games I played, so it only made sense that I keep it with me as my one true link back to my real life.

"Just like you to make name that is completely unique." Ruby said.

"Ha, yeah, that is like me isn't it? But I looked at how we were set up, there are a total of five people, if you include Kayaba, who can control how this game turns out. We are like a council of gods and goddesses who can shape an entire world to what we want it to be." I said.

"That's exactly why I chose four people to help me with this project Brad."

Kayaba and Xavier had finished their conversation and had moved over to us.

"You all are here to be a sort of council in the new world of my design. As such, we will have meetings discussing what we should do with the game over however long it will run. You will also be tasked with looking over twenty-five levels of Aincrad each. Because this is a lot of ground to cover you will be allotted two assistant NPCs. Now it is almost time for the game to begin, to your stations everyone."

We all left for our rooms where our Nerve Gear rig was stored and the nurses strapped us in. '_Alright, it's time to start creating a new world._' I thought to myself. "This is going to be fun. Link Start!"

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><p><strong>AN: And with that I end the first chapter to my first story ever. Please tell me what you think of it so I can improve anything I need to. No flames. Thank you for reading.**

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><p><strong>Edit AN: I went back and edited the story so it's not a big block of text but I'm not going to add anything to the story. Sorry for the short opening but I hope you will keep reading.**


	2. The Ruby Palace

**A/N: First I want to thank Agent 94 and Kilo6 for reviewing and helping me figure out how to write anything in the first place. Looking back now I relies that the last chapter was terrible in a way. So I will try to improve over time, so don't hate me if it's still bad.**

**Again I don't own SAO, just the OCs**

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><p>As the game settings load in front of me, I quickly calibrate the system and went to character design. I made him dark skinned and about 5'11". I gave him short black hair and dark brown eyes. Kayaba said that our avatars going to be disabled as long as we didn't look at the mirror item that was given to everyone. Even with that said, I didn't want to make my character look to different or inhuman because I would have to interact with the players a lot. Finally, I made my character's clothing color scheme red with a black trim. After completing the character design the username box popped up and I typed in the name 'Bromious'. I pressed the complete button and light flashed in front of me. As the light faded, my a huge ruby palace appeared in front of me. A lights started to shine to the right of me as another avatar appeared beside me.<p>

I looked over to see a light skinned female with ruby red hair and scarlet red hair who was about 5'8". I looked above her head and read that her name was Hikari. I figure that must have been Ruby and she decided to come up with her own name.

"So you went with a more optimistic name huh." I said.

"Yeah, this name gives the dying players a more comfortable feeling about dying. I just hope that there aren't too many casualties."

"That's the problem with this death game; the people who die here, die in the real world too."

We started walking towards the ruby colored palace and saw that the outside was actually made of real ruby. We went inside and found five platforms that rose into the celling, obviously to the rest of the palace. When we got up to the next floor we found ourselves in a large foyer with five hallways leading to different rooms. Over the five hallways were name plates apparently for us to name which room was ours, the fifth on had the word 'Armory' on it. We heard voices coming from a path that led to a spiral stair case and started going up. When we got to the top of the stairs we found giant twin door slightly open. I pushed the right side door in so that we could enter the room and saw that it was something like a council meeting room. The room was completely white with a path leading to a large open area. There were five tall pedestals surrounding the area. I noticed that Xavier and Sophie's avatars had already chosen a pedestals and were waiting for us at the top.

Xavier's avatar was about 5'10" with dark skin, with a slim build. He wore a dark green tunic and pants. His had made his face to look like a more mature version of his real face and his eyes were a hazel color. I looked above his head and saw the word Okami. Sophie's avatar was a 5'4" light skinned female with short blond hair. Her face was set to look innocent and child-like with cerulean blue eyes. I saw that she went with I suggest as her name and chose Iris.

"How did you guys get up there" I asked

Okami looked down at me and Hikari and said, "We used our game master powers. There's an entire list of them on our menu. Just open it, select Admin Options and then toggle flight on."

Hikari and I did as Okami said and soon found ourselves starting to rise off the ground. We flew over to the two pedestals that were on either side of the pedestal directly in front of the entrance. Just as we landed on our respective pedestals and toggled our flight power off, Kayaba teleported onto the fifth pedestal were a red cloak with a golden trim.

"Welcome to the 100th floor of Aincrad, or as it is called, the Ruby Palace. This will be our headquarters were we will hold our meetings to discuss the advancement of Aincrad. The palace is stocked with all the supplies one will ever need. It also holds an armory that is stocked with the every weapons that could possibly be made. In fact, after this meeting has been concluded, you will be able to get yourself settled into the palace and pick your weapon of choice. Now onto business."

Kayaba went more into the details of our positions as admin of the game. He told us to be careful about using any game master abilities if we are interacting with player. He also told us that we could choose level up by experience or us the GM powers to instantly level up. Quite frankly I since I will have to stick around the players more, I would have to level up the normal with only slight help from my GM powers.

"Now that the meeting is over, you all can go and settle into the palace. I hope you find everything accommodating and are able to make it to my appearance to the players in the Town of Beginnings." Kayaba said before he teleported away.

"So I guess we should get ourselves settled in" I said to the others

We jump down of the pedestals and went over to the armory. What we found inside was a wide array of weapons and gear. I was particularly fond of the variety of great swords the armory had in stock. The material they were made out of grew in durability as the level required to wield them increased. As I looked down the aisle I saw a great sword held on a pedestal with ray of light shining on it. I checked the details on the sword, its name was "The Claymore" and sure enough it had the highest stats out of any of the great swords. The level required was only set to 60 which wasn't that bad, but with my restriction on auto leveling that would make it all the more worth it. For now I picked up the basic great sword and add enough skill point to have basic techniques and combos with it. As I left great sword aisle I saw Okami coming from the dagger aisle with a daggers on his belt. Hikari came from the saber section with a basic curved sword at her side, and Iris had a basic rapier with her. Now that we were all set we head out of the palace to get to the Town of Beginnings in time for Kayaba's appearance.

When we teleported into town everyone was already corralled into the town center. Luckily we got there after the forced teleportation so we weren't stuck in the town center. Since everyone would be confused with the forced transport they wouldn't be looking in the direction of the cathedral. So we toggled on our flight ability and flew up to the spires of the cathedral to watch the chaos unfold. Soon enough the sky turned red with warning signs and red slime started dripping from it.

"I guess someone likes to show off a bit." Okami said

"He gets points for awe but I probably could have done it better." I said

"Sure you could have" Hikari said sarcastically. I scowled at her and she laughed.

Kayaba talked to the players about the truth of the game and that there had already been many death in the first few hours of the game. Before he left he gave all the player the mirror item and the entire square was filled with light as the players were reverted to their real life appearance.

"Well that's one way to make this world more realistic" I said

"True but did you hear about all the early game deaths, I'm going to be busy for a while and I haven't even started working." Hikari complained

"But how hard can your job be after a few months have passed. Most of the players will get better at the game and there won't be as many deaths. And I'm sure you don't have to stay in the death zone for the whole time, you can just hang with Bromious and the other players." Iris said as Kayaba started to disappear and we flew down of the spire.

As I went down, I started to see some of the players run out of the Town of Beginnings. Those were either Beta testers or really brave players who believe they are stronger than the other.

"We better start getting to work" I said to the others

"Why don't we start tomorrow? Most of the players are still too disoriented to do much more of anything today." Iris said.

"Plus Heathcliff might want to talk to us a little bit more and show us what his avatar will look like." Okami said.

"Fine. To be honest I am kind of tired already" I said as we teleported back to the Ruby Palace.

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><p><strong>Thus ends the second chapter of my story. Tell me what you think of it so far and if there are still problems let me know. I am trying to make it so that it's not a bunch of blocky text and actually readable. Rate and Review, thanks for reading.<strong>


	3. The First Day

**Still don't own SAO, just the OCs**

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><p>When we teleported back to the Ruby Palace we ended up in the council room. I figured that was just our keyed location for when teleported here. What did surprise us was that there was a middle aged looking man with grayish-silver hair wearing red armor with a white trim standing on the fifth pedestal. All of us were so surprised that the intruder was here that we all drew our weapons simultaneously.<p>

"Wait, don't attack" the intruder said in a familiar voice. "It's me, Kayaba. This is the avatar that I am using to interact with the players. From now on you can call me Heathcliff."

We all eased up and put away our weapons. Now that the day was over and we weren't going to officially start working until tomorrow, we decided to ask Kayaba some questions. The only strange thing about this job was how we were brought here. We didn't really have time to question much of this because we were rushed over here from the Argus branch in America. We were all the best in our positions and since the game was releasing soon, we were need much more. Apparently Kayaba heard about use for the president of the American branch and requested us personally. Now I want to find out why.

"Kayaba, or Heathcliff, why did you pick us to help you with this game? I mean, you had an entire branch in Japan to use, so why us?" I asked.

I could tell that my coworkers were all thinking the same question and were glad that I had asked it. Apparently it is true that if you have a question, chances are that someone else will have the same question. We all looked over to Kayaba to see what his response would be. He was silent for a moment as if he was making up an excuse, but then he started.

"You were all selected from the American branch because this project was to be kept secret until the release date. I have found that America has proven useful for getting work done with the upmost security. I handpicked you all because you were the top of your positons and excellent employees. Also the fact that you are American means that you are willing to go farther than anyone else to get things done. Another point that makes you excellent candidates is that you all have no families or loved ones left, making you expendable in the long run if any loose ends need to be taken care of."

"Wait, does that mean you were going to kill us if the project got shut down!" Hikari yelled in protest to what Kayaba said. He looked at her and shuck his head.

"No, but we would have had to move you to a secure location to continue with the plans. Needless to what I said, you are all important to my plans for Aincrad. Japan didn't have any evidence to convict us of any crimes before the game launched so there was nothing to worry about. As to why you were all brought in early was to lower any chance of you being recognized in public. This was just a precaution to ensure your safety."

"Okay, so I get the whole secrecy and safety bit, it makes sense. I just find it weird that you trust us more than the workers in your own branch." Iris chimed in.

"Like I said, secrecy was the upmost importance at that stage. Most of the workers in the Japan branch of Argus have families and that would lead to a lot of questions. I found it easier to contact the Argus branch in America and ask for you four. Besides, why should I keep all of this in Japan? All of Argus had a hand in the creation of this game and we should all share in it. Now get some sleep, you have a busy day tomorrow."

Satisfied with Kayaba's answer, and mainly tired of hearing him give a speech every time he opens his mouth, we left the meeting area and headed towards our rooms. This would be the first time that we could rest senses we got into the game and it had been somewhat of a busy day. When we got to the main lobby of the palace, we each said our goodnights and headed towards the hall that had our names on it. When I went down my hall and opened the door, I was shocked at what I say. It was a fully stocked apartment, which seemed to employ British engineering. The living room was the first thing I saw when I stepped in and it had a kitchen to the right. There were closets and a half bathroom as well. On the left wall there was a star case that led downstairs. I went down and saw that it led to my room. The lights came on as I came into the room and showed a full sized bed, a wardrobe, and a nightstand. There were two door that led to my private armory and the bathroom. There was also a console on the wall that allowed me to tap into different files and information about Aincrad and its status.

"I guess I'll still have some part in keeping the system up." I said to myself. Finding the living arrangements suitable to my needs I quickly fell asleep in anticipation for the next day.

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><p><strong>The Next Day<strong>

I was awaken by Okami throwing water in face and yelling "Wake up, it's our first day of work!" I instantly shot up and started getting dressed. During the night, everything I felt like it was some kind of dream, like it all didn't happen. Otherwise I probably would have been the first person up. I put on some starter level armor and equipped my great sword, then I headed to my door where Okami was waiting.

"What time did you all wake up?" I asked

"I actually never went to sleep, too excited about this whole thing." He replied

"I'm guessing you had a lot of coffee in your kitchen then."

"I still do. I used your coffee."

"Jerk."

We came out of my apartment and went into the lobby to find the girls waiting at the door.

"Why don't we go around Aincrad to get a valid map of the entire castle, that way we can at least spend less time trying to know the area?" I suggested

"That seems like it will only help you, sense you're the only person actually in the field." Iris stated.

"Actually it would help you as well, sense you'll have a lot of free time until an announcement needs to be sent out. If you want, you can come with me when I run my rounds." I said  
>"No, but thanks anyway. I prefer to go on my own and try to make some new experiences."<p>

"Either way, it would benefit you to fill out the maps while you have a lot of free time on your hands. Your job is to make announcements, how much effort will that take." Okami said

"But it would also help her to have some friends to travel with. One hundred floors is a lot of ground to cover." Hikari chimed in.

"Speaking of company, didn't Heathcliff mention that we would have AI companions to help us?" I asked as we were headed out the door.

No sooner than when we stepped outside, we were teleported to the meeting room and Kayaba was standing in front of us.

"Welcome back. I understand you were asking about your AI companions." Heathcliff said

"Do you have like, hidden mics on us or something? How would you know that?" Iris asked.

"I keep tabs on all my workers, don't worry it was just to see how you fair on your first day." Heathcliff explained. "Anyway, there are going to be some changes to the role you play in this world. Instead of the job you originally had, you will be going out into the field like Bromious and I. This will allow for better data collection on how people far in Aincrad and how they manage their live from now until the game ends. Accompanying you will be your AI companion that have been preset to fit your liking and fighting style. You are free to make any changes as you see fit. To any other player beside the five of us these will look like normal people who also got trapped inside the game. However, they do not have game master powers like we do therefore they are not invincible and if they die they must remain dead. You can make them an indestructible item only for a short period of time to protect them from dying, just be careful where you use it. Now, time to see you companions."

As Heathcliff finish speaking, pedestals started to rise from the ground of the meeting room with people on them. There were two pedestals for each of ours which made eight in total. We each activated our flight mode and flew up to the new pedestals next to our own. At mine was a tan skinned male with a slim build and a katana on his side. He was about 6 feet tall with black tunic and slacks with a crimson red trim. The other was a light skinned female with two rectangular shields on her arms. She was about 5'5" and wore heavy grayish-silver armor. She looked like she could barely stand, but surprisingly she was standing tall and strong. I decided to name the girl Dia and the guy Hanzo. After they were named, they opened their eyes and started looking around the surrounding area.

They turned to me and said "What do you command of us sir?"

Shocked by their sudden comment I replied "Uh… Well right now just standby until we move out."

I noticed that the others had finished setting up their companions and were waiting to see if Heathcliff had anything else to say. Heathcliff saw that our attention was now on him he started speaking once again.

"Now that you have your companions set to your liking you can finally go out into Aincrad. You must remain undercover and never reveal your game master powers to anyone. You have many game master abilities, one of which is the ability to change your level. You also have access to all floor weather or not the bosses have been defeated. Now go out into Aincrad and join the other players in the game."

We left the council room with our companions in tow. We left the Ruby Palace and went over to the teleport pad that was down the path. We all got onto the platform I shouted out the command to take us to Floor One. Fortunately, no was even around the teleporter in town so it no one saw the white light that came from it.

"I guess sense we all have to mingle with the other players, we should split up and go our separate ways." I said

"But that means we won't see each other until the monthly meetings." Iris replied

"True, but we might run into each other on our adventures," Okami chimed in "and even if we don't we can measure how much we change every month."

"Right!" Hikari said "Putting it simply, this isn't a goodbye more like a see you later."

We all nodded our agreement and said our goodbyes and headed of in a different direction. After I walked down an alley one of my companions spoke up, it was Hanzo.

"Sir, not to overstep my bounds but shouldn't we form a group." Hanzo said.

"Okay for starters, don't be so formal with me, it feels weird. If you have to see me as an authority figure just call me boss or something like that. Second, you're right we should form a group. Wait a sec while I set it up."

"Yes, sir… er… I mean Boss!" Dia said

Shrugging off there persistence, I opened up the menu and went to group section. Soon enough Dia and Hanzo's name were under mine meaning we weird grouped up.

"There, all finished. Now let's get going." I said

As we were exiting the alley, I almost ran into some one running full steam out of the town. I looked on as he continue running and didn't even notice me. '_Well I guess he's eager to get out of town. I have to make a mental note to keep an eye out for him_' I thought to myself. We continued out of town following a map a bought at a vendor.

"According to this map, there should be a town just up ahead." I said with the map in my face.

"Boss, there's something up ahead!" Dia yelled

I looked up to see that there were three wolf monsters standing in front of us. I put away the map and drew my great sword from behind me. My companions drew there weapons as well.

"Hanzo, you're with me on attacking. Dia, watch our back and defend us when you can."

"Right, Boss!" they both replied

I charge forward to meet the wolves with Hanzo behind me. As I lifted my sword overhead, it started to glow meaning I activated the sword skill. When I came up on the wolf I swung my sword down hard and slashed the wolf as it was to jump me. This sent the wolf flying back with a wound on its head. Hanzo had held of one of the other wolves with a series of fast strokes of his sword. With a few more swings from my sword I manage to take down my wolf without it laying a bite or scratch on me. Hanzo had finished his wolf as well. Just as I let my guard down, the third wolf charged at me. Lucky for me Dia was watching the battle carefully and saw the wolf start to attack and ran to defend me from the attack.

"Thanks Dia, I owe you one." I said

"No need Boss, I'm here to help you any way I can." She replied.

I shrugged and put my focus back on the battle. The last wolf was much bigger than the other wolves, so Hanzo and I teamed-up on it. Hanzo started off by charging forward and slashing at the wolf with several quick strikes that left the wolf dazing it. I charged in with an underhand slice and transitioned downward strike sending my sword through the wolf's skull into the ground. The wolf died and shattered into light. A screen appeared in front of me showing the experience points I gain and the loot I earned. I pulled my sword out of the ground and put it back on my back.

"Well, that happened. I can't believe how these sword skills make fighting feel so natural." I said while Dia and Hanzo merely looked at me.

"I'm going to have put more personality into you guys because you are booooorrrrrriiiiing."

We continued on to towards the town and by the time we got there it was starting to get late. I decide that we stay at an inn instead of going back to the Ruby Palace in order to get a feel for sleeping in Aincrad. We checking into the inn which was relatively empty and went up to our rooms. When I brought Dia and Hanzo to their rooms I open up their menus and changed their personalities. Not only would this give them more life and make them feel more real, but it would also prevent me from going crazy over their stale, emotionless state. After that was done, I sent them to bed and then went to my own room. As I was leaving Hanzo's room I ran into a black haired kid and knocked them over.

"My bad. Here let me help you up." I said as I reached out my hand to help him.

"No sweat, accidents happen." He replied.

I helped him up and he hurried off to his room down the hall. '_He looks awfully familiar.'_ I thought to myself. Putting that aside for the moment and went to my room for so sleep.

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><p><strong>AN: And that's the end of that chapter. I had some serious writer's block for a while and it took me a while to finish the chapter. Sorry I haven't updated in a long time. To make up for all the holidays I missed; Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. As always Rate and Review, ****_constructive criticism_****helps a lot. RoboDragon out!**


	4. The First Boss

**A/N: I've been seeing some people start to follow and favorite my story but not too many reviews. I need those to know if I'm doing something wrong or could be improved. If you have ideas you want to tell me then just PM me and we can work it out. Basically, I just want some feedback.**

**This next chapter is after a time skip of one month like in the second episode.**

**Still don't have the rights to SAO.**

I woke up in my bed back in the Ruby Palace. Heathcliff had called us back for the monthly meeting. I went upstairs to find my companions sleeping on my couch and floor. My companions and I had taken on some quest over the past weeks and leveled up to level eleven. It's funny, I gave them personalities so I know that when I wake them up they'll give me death stares. I decided to leave them sleeping and go to the meeting alone. '_I'll just tell them the details after the meeting, when it's less dangerous for me._' I thought. I left my room and went down the hall to the council room. When I got there I notice that my friends also left their companions in their rooms.

"So you guys are scared of your AIs too. I said as I flew up to my pedestal.

Okami laugh, "It would be as bad if we didn't give them such lifelike personalities."

"But then they would be stiff robots that watch us in our sleep." Hikari stated.

"So there's no helping it then. Either we have them angry for waking them up or they stalk us." Iris joked.

As we talked about our experiences over the past month, Heathcliff managed to walk in and get up to his pedestal without us noticing him.

"I'm glad you all are enjoying yourselves." He said, his voice booming through the council room.

"Heathcliff, we didn't know you stepped in." I explained

"No worries, I want you to have some fun here. Now let's get on with the meeting. Hikari, I believe you have some notes to share."

"Yes sir, it's about the death toll so far. Currently after a month in Aincrad, there have been 2,000 player deaths."

"Two thousand in the first month! How could some deaths pile up that fast?" I exclaimed.

"Some of these were contributed to families trying to take nerve gear off of their loved one. Other reports show that it was suicide or killed by monsters. The suicide reports are the most concerning though, doesn't the Cardinal system have some form of anti-depressant?" She asked.

"About that." Okami chimed in "Apparently there might be a bug in the system. For some reason the Cardinal system is blocking the Mental Health – Counseling Program, codenamed "Yui", from activating. During the past month I have spent most of my time trying to fix this and I'll see what I come up with."

"Bromious and Iris, do you have anything to report?" Heathcliff asked

"Well there's some interesting news in the field." I reported "Apparently there is a player meeting going on today to discuss the boss of the dungeon on Floor 1. A group of player were going through the dungeon, pretending to role-play, and stumbled upon Illfang the Kobold Lord's chamber. They plan on taking him out and advancing onto the second floor like planned."

"Another report from the field that I found interesting was about a particular guild." Iris stated "This may be another reason for the massive amount of deaths in the past month. A group of players have joined together to form a guild named "Laughing Coffin" and are killing other players. So far they are still small and they have killed too many other people but I fear for their future plans. I have posted on the message board in the Town of Beginnings that 'Players who partake in murder, or player killing, have a red icon over their heads. Furthermore, any player who has committed a crime- such as stealing, attempted murder, etc. - is marked with an orange icon. These player are dangerous and must be put in the town jail to prevent further harm.'"

"Excellent work everyone. With this meeting out of the way you can take the rest of the day off and do whatever you like. You may be able to catch that meeting Bromious reported and help them defeat the floor boss. That is all for today, meeting adjourned."

Heathcliff dismissed us and left the council room. We soon filed out after him and gathered in the foyer. By the time out meeting was over our companions had woken up and were conversing by the front door. We met up with them and told them that we had the day off. We decided to go down to one of the more quiet towns to relax. It was a small town near the end of the map and it was known to have a sort of theater like area. We split up so that the girls could go shopping and Okami and I went to explore the town. We actually ended up finding that theater area and a bunch of players gathering in it.

"I guess this is where they are having that meeting." I said

Out of nowhere some guy with blue spikey hair came up to us and started pushing us towards the meeting area.

"Hurry up, you're going to be late for the meeting." He said

"Bu…but we're not—"Okami tried to say before the guy cut him off.

"We're going to need everyone to fight this boss so the more help the better."

I shrugged and we sat down in the bleachers a couple rows up from the open area. The blue haired guy moved up to the front and when he figured everyone that was coming was there he began to talk. He said his name was Diavel and his party was the one to find the bosses room. He told everyone to group up and form raiding parties in order to take on the boss. Personally I wanted to see where this was going so I went along with it. My companions and I merged our party with Okami's and waiting for everyone to calm down. But before Diavel could speak again there was an outburst in the crowd. Some spiky haired idiot jumped down from the stands and started ranting on about how the Beta Testers had abandoned the new players and should give up their items and money.

"This guy has to be insane." Okami whispered to me.

"I know right." I whispered back "The Beta Testers should have to hold the new players hands through this. So they have a little more experience, that doesn't make them cheaters."

After the idiot named Kibaou stopped talking to breath, a tall dark-skinned man, named Agil, stood up and explained how the Beta Testers had compiled their notes about the game into an info book and gave it out to all the new players. This immediately shut Kibaou up and the meeting continued. Diavel had taken out the info book and started reading the description of Illfang and his minions. After that the meeting was dismissed and everyone left for the town center to party before going to fight the boss. We joined the festival and mingled a bit but mostly stayed to ourselves. However, I did want to have a word with Diavel, he seemed like an interesting character. I found him talking to Agil and Kibaou near the town's fountain.

"Excuse me for the interruption but I need to speak with Diavel for a second." I said

"Sure, what's up?"

"I'd rather the conversation be in private."

"Okay, you guys hang back for a second." Diavel said to his friends.

We walked a distance away till we were sure that we were out of earshot.

"So, what's your deal?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" He replied

"You're a bit too calm about this to be a normal player."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do. Any other player wouldn't have even think to role play in this game, yet here you are walking through like there isn't a threat in the world."

"Well that could be said about you as well. What makes you so important that you can just question people out of the blue?"

"Nothing, I just think that there is something off about you."

"Well if we are done here then I have to go prepare for a raid."

He stormed off and I went back to where Okami and the companions were waiting.

"Well that could have gone better. But I did figure out what was special about him."

"And, may I ask, what is that?" Okami asked

"He's a Beta Tester. That explains why he's so familiar with the place, he's already been through this. Sure the prospect of being stuck in a death game may have been concerning to him, but I theorize Beta Testers are stronger and more determined than the others. They can shake off the problem of surviving and lead the others."

As we went on through the crowded square towards the weapons shop I was looking out for anyone who might look like they knew what to expect. Unfortunately that isn't too easy to find on the face of a bunch of drunk happy avatars so I put off the search. We reach the weapon shop to find that it had a pretty decent stock in order to upgrade our weapons. One of the perks of having GM powers is that we can increase the amount of col we have, so money is never an issue. I purchased the best great sword they had in stock which was a four foot by one foot black buster sword. Then I purchased a silver katana with a red hilt for Hanzo and two steel diamond shaped shields for Dia. Okami bought a bronze dagger and two spears for his companions, Kieta and Kitsune. After we equipped out new weapons we headed back to the inn we decided to stay at for the day. When we got back the girls were already waiting for us.

"Where have you been? We've been worried sick. You were supposed to be back hours ago. And why do you have new weapons."

"We kind of got pulled into the boss raid party. And then stayed for the party after." I explained

"Wha… How… I don't even know what to say to that." Iris said

"Well don't say anything, just think of it as doing our job." Okami stated "While we are part of the raid we can watch the players and see how they operate in a party and potentially strong players."

"I guess that makes sense. Either way it's time to get some sleep so let's go to bed.

**The Next Day**

Okami and I ran downstairs with our companions and rushed out the door of the inn to catch up to the raid party. They had managed to make it all the way to the boss door before we got to them. We made it just as Diavel was opening the boss door and started in, and no one noticed us come from out of nowhere. We went inside and saw Illfang in all his terror. He and his minions stood before us as the torches around the room lite up. As we were instructed to do last night, we split up into separate groups to take on the four monsters in front of us. My group charged at the sentinel on the right and took him on.

I started things off with two horizontal strikes and an upward slash that sent the sentinel flying up. Okami took this as a queue for his attack as he use my back as jump pad and sent a flurry of quick stabs into the sentinel's chest before sticking his dagger in it and kicking him back down to the ground. Meanwhile back on the ground Dia, Kieta, and Kitsune were setting up a launch pad made of Dia's shield. Kieta and Kitsune launched off of Dia's shields as she pushed them upwards. They thrust their spears upward and into the sentinel as he fell towards them. Hanzo finished off the sentinel by giving it one big vertical slash increasing the force on it when it crashed down to the ground. It dispersed into light shards and we put our attention towards the main boss.

The leading party was slowly lowering his health as they were starting on the third bar. We charged forward and began our advance on Illfang. Kieta and Kitsune threw their spears at Illfang's knee and made him kneel making it easier to get to his face. I jumped up and stabbed him straight in his heart and slashed up to his shoulder. On my way down I slashed all the way down Illfang's front. Okami jumped off my back again and over Illfang's head to slash down his back. When we landed Illfang recovered and swung his axe at us and sent Hanzo, Kieta, and Kitsune flying back to the front of the room. As he was swinging his axe back to attack us again, Dia jumped in front of us and took the full force of the attack. She flew back with her health bar falling into the yellow region. We fell back to give her some cover and keep the spawning sentinel off her.

"Watch yourself Dia, take a health potion to stay alive." I whispered "I don't know if we could bring you back or not with our GM powers."

By the time Hanzo and the others regrouped with us, Illfang was in transition of changing weapons and Diavel's group was going in for the attack. But instead of changing to a talwar like Diavel said at the meeting, it switched to a nodachi, a twisted katana. Illfang started zipping around the room at a super high speed and was stunning everyone in Diavel's group. At that point Okami and I activated our invincibility to prevent any possible death. Illfang picked Diavel out of his group and finished him off with a 4-hit combo and sent him flying back. I noticed the same black haired kid I ran into in the inn ran up to Diavel and tried to give him a health potion but for some reason Diavel refused it. I couldn't quite hear what they were saying but I did make out something about saving the rest of the players. After that the boy got up and started charging at Illfang with his partner right behind him. With the other players still attacking Illfang his health was down to the bare minimal and when the kid got in he and his partner managed to finish the fight.

As Illfang died in a spectacle of light the entire raid group started cheer that is until Kibaou yelled over everyone. He accused the kid of letting Diavel die. Then he figured out that the kid, apparently his name was Kirito, was a Beta Tester and started call all Beta Testers cheaters for not giving accurate information. Then Kirito did something I didn't expect, he took the full force of the accusations and donned the title of Beater. With that he equipped a jacket that he apparently got from killing the boss and started to the next floor. I thought to myself _'I'm going to have to keep an eye on him'_. We decided to head back to the inn instead of going to the next floor with the others. I messaged Hikari and Iris to tell them that the players got through to the second floor. As soon as we got out of the dungeon we heard Iris' voice over some kind of worldwide invisible loudspeaker announcing that the next floor was open. Considering that most people on floor one would be cheering and then packing to move up we hurried back to the inn. When we got back Hikari and Iris were waiting out front.

"We already paid the fee for staying at the inn so we can move on." Iris said

"Good, we should probably get going to avoid the rush of people." Okami state

And with that we were off to the next floor.

**A/N: So that chapter's done. It felt weird ending it because I was working on it so much. Oh well, it's out of the way now. PLEASE review this chapter I need input. Aside from that I got nothing else to say so… I'm done here.**

***Uses Jedi mind trick* you want to review this chapter.**


	5. The New Year's Resolution

**A/N: Review… Please!**

**Still don't own SAO**

Time flew by somewhat quickly in Aincrad. The players got more organized and cleared the floors in record times. We continued to help them beat the bosses until they got up to the 20th floor. At that point we found that they were capable of functioning on their own, they managed to make all the way past Floor 50 before Christmas. We did notice that when it got to December, the players seems to have become accustomed to life in Aincrad and even start to get ready for New Year's. Even managed to get some time off to celebrate the New Year. 

"So how do we plan on setting up for New Year's?" Iris asked

"We could get all the players together for a party and hold it in the Town of Beginnings. We could even auction off some ultra-rare and powerful weapons that we have." Hikari suggested.

"That's not a bad idea. Almost all of the player would go nuts for new weapons, and everyone would like some time off before getting back into things next year." I said.

"That sounds like a plan." Okami said. 

With that settle we set about getting the party together. To us it would be the admin hosting a party for all the players for getting this far, but to the players it would look like four friendly players busting their wallets to put this thing together. Either way it was looked at it would be nice to stop for a while and enjoy life. While getting the supplies and decorations would be easy, the hard part would be getting the players to come. Of course, that was what the auction was for. When the top ranked players hear that there would be a chance to get some of the best weapons in the game they would make it a priority to come, and the lower ranked player might want to try their luck or even just come to meet the top ranked players. Now the hard part would figuring out which weapons to part with from the armory.

Okami and I were tasked with getting the weapons while the girl went shopping for the supplies, which was a logical move because between the four of us they were the only ones who knew what to feed over six thousand people. Our goal was to get some of the best weapons from around Aincrad without giving them the best weapons, so most of our high tier weapons were off limits. We grabbed some ultra-rare and boss drop weapons that were high ranked, on in particular caught my attention. It was a dagger class weapon that I picked up after I killed a boss in one of the dungeons. It was named Mate Chopper and it looked like a giant butcher's knife. If anything this would fetch a good amount of money because its stats were amazing, almost made me want to switch to daggers.

With the weapons gather we headed to the Town of Beginnings to see how the party decorations were getting together. When we got to the town square we were shocked to see that it was already decorated with festive lights and banners, there was even a giant crystal ball in the center of the square. We went in a little further to see Hikari and Iris setting up a food table with a small group of players. They were all had a matching symbol to say they were in a guild.

"…And that should do it for the snacks. Thank you all for your help, the place looks great." We heard Hakari say to the players.

"No problem, we were happy to help." Said one of the players that seemed to be the leader of the group.

"Too bad you won't be able to make the party." Iris said

"Well we already had plans for New Year's but we be sure to drop by." One of the girls in the group said.

The guild said their goodbyes to Hikari and Iris and left. Okami and I regrouped with them after we put away the weapons in a safe we brought with us.

"Looks like you girls had a good time decorating the place, it looks great." I said.

"Thanks. Did you get the weapons for the auction?"

"Yep, we put them in the safe and now all we have to do is send out the announcements." Okami stated.

"I'll get right on that." Iris said

She pulled up her menu and went to her GM tab. She selected one of the options and a headset appeared around her head. A tone sounded through the air as if speakers where being activated.

"Attention all players. There will be a special event hosted in the Town of Beginnings on New Year's Eve starting at 10:00 pm Aincrad Standard Time. Thank you, that is all."

"Alright, now we're all set." I announced.

Time wounded down till it was time for the party. Players were filling out of the teleporter in droves. They milled around chatting, eating, and some players even started duels. Soon enough it was time for the auction and we took the weapons out the vault and brought them up to a platform tall enough for everyone to see. Oddly, the first weapon up for bid was that strange dagger weapon, Mate Chopper.

I stepped up to the microphone and started the auction. "Alright, the first item up for bids is the Mate Chopper. This dagger class weapon was a boss drop item and extremely rare, in fact, I don't there is any other weapon like it. The stats are unbelievable high and I'm willing to bet that no blacksmith can make anything better. Now we'll start the bidding at 5,000 Cor!"

"5,000!" One player said.

"8,000!" Another said

"10,000!"

"20,000!"

"I hear 20,000 Cor. Can I get 25,000? 20,000 Cor going once… Going twice—

"100,000 Cor!"

A gasp went through the entire crowd. Someone was willing to pay that much money for this weapon. Granted it's a fine blade and no blacksmith could make it but 100,000 Cor.

"Sold for 100,000 Cor! Come up sir and claim your prize."

The man came up from the back to claim the giant dagger, I couldn't make out his face though because he was wearing a cloak that hid his face well. We opened the trade menu and exchanged the weapon for the Cor. He didn't say anything else after, he just dropped down from the platform and went into one of the allies. I didn't think anything of his actions and just went on with the auction.

Half way through the auction I switched out with Hikari and took a break with Dia and Hanzo. I remembered that the people who helped us set up were having their party nearby and decided to drop by. What I saw when I got there though was not what I expected. Just as I got over the hill I saw the guild being murdered by another group. There entire campsite was on fire and they were trapped in the middle of it all. In the mist of the fighting I saw the Mate Chopper in the hands of the guy I sold it to.

"Hey!" I yelled as I ran down to stop the attack.

They looked up and the guy wielding Mate Chopper ordered three of his associates to intercept us. Since we had the uphill advantage I used the advantage to jump over the enemy and strike them from behind. I drew my great sword and singled out one of the murders. I swept at his legs making him fall to the ground. Then I moved over to him and started punching him in the face till he was unconscious.

I knew Hanzo and Dia could handle the other two grunts that were sent at us so I turned my attention towards the guy with the Mate Chopper. Something told me he was behind all of this and he had to be stopped. I charged down the hill slashing away at anyone who came near me, it should be common sense not to attack a charging great sword user but nonetheless they came and were cut down by my blade. I managed to make it to the clearing where the assailant was without getting hit too many times and most of his friends were crippled on the ground.

"Who are you and why are you doing this?!" I demanded to know

The man just stared back at me for a while, a sadistic grin frozen on his face. Then he lifted up his right hand showing a tattoo of a skeleton coming out of a coffin with a similar smile on it.

"I am the leader of Laughing Coffin, PoH, and as for why we are killing these little sheep, well, because we can." He replied

"You can't seriously believe that you can murder people and just get away with it, people are going to try to stop you." I said back

"And when they do, we'll kill then too."

"But what about finishing the game, don't you want to go back to the real world?"

"I don't have anything to go back to, so why not stay here and have some fun while we're at it."

I had enough of him, his word made no sense and his actions were even worse. This guy just liked killing people for the fun of it; he doesn't even deserve the luxury of prison cell. I found myself getting madder by the second and just went in charging at him. He didn't even look off guard for a moment, like he was ready for my attack the whole time. He deflected my strike which surprised me; how does a dagger user deflect a great sword. Either way I kept hammering at him with all my might but he kept dodging and blocking my attacks. Eventually he decided it was his turn to attack and took the opportunity to strike right after he deflected one of my attacks. I saw the attack coming and tried to block it but I was hit instead, strange thing was I thought I did block it.

I pushed the thought aside just in time to see PoH coming in for another attack. I put my sword in a blocking position in time to intercept his strike but I still managed to get hit. I knew I blocked his attack so it didn't make sense that I was taking damage. With my health getting lower I would have to use my GM powers to turn on invulnerability. Luckily I can do this a quick select menu set up in case we needed quick access to our GM powers. Hopefully in the heat of battle PoH wouldn't notice that he's hitting an invulnerable object and if he did, I'll be finishing him off anyway.

I got back up on my feet and charged at PoH again. This time I managed to get off a few hits on him before he started attacking again. I'm pretty sure he didn't see the alert signs pop up when he hit me but for the most part I managed to dodge his attacks. For another round of attacks I swept my sword at his waist just barely grazing him as he dodged out the way and then I prepared myself for an overhead slice. PoH saw this as an opportunity to attack my mid section and sprang forward with Mate Chopper. At the moment I thought that I was going to be alright because I had my invulnerability on but then I remembered about the alerts. It was too late to get out of the way of the attack as PoH tried to slice at my chest an alert popped up warning him about the invulnerability. I saw the grin on PoH's face disappear as he jumped out of the way before my overhead strike came down on him. If I had landed that attack I could have finishing him but I sensed that the fight was over anyway.

"Interesting, it would seem that you are a game admin." He accused.

"What gives you that idea?" I replied

"The factor that I can't damage you anymore is all the proof I need. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted."

He opened up his inventory and pulled out a teleport crystal and commanded his followers to retreat. I tried to charge at him one last time but I was too late as I swung and it nothing but light particles. I cursed under my breath and drove my sword into the ground, this turned out to be a very bad new year.

**A/N: I know it has been a while since I posted a chapter and it will probably be another while until I can post again. I was using a school issued computer for some time and then I graduated so I no longer have that computer, so that slows my progress by a bit (a.k.a a lot). Thank you all for being patient with me, also please reviw.**

**P.S.- This chpater was posted by the good grace of library computers. All hail free computer usage!**


	6. No Laughing Matter

**A/N: I want to start this off with an apology. I haven't uploaded anything in almost a year and I am very sorry for that. I found that I've been unnaturally busy since I started college and I haven't had time to sit at my computer to type, but I've employed a system where I write down the chapters in a notebook whenever I have free time and them type them up later. This way I should at least be able to have the chapters written down and it will be easier to type them and upload. I have no intention of stopping this story until it is finished.**

**I do not own SAO.**

After my encounter with P.o.H and his Laughing Coffin, I went back to the Ruby Palace. I didn't know what to make of the player killer I just fought, he seemed to know about game masters and knew that I was one of them. I wonder if he knew about the others too and when he found out we existed. This could turn out to be a huge problem for us if he decided to tell everyone, but on the other hand he is a red player so people might not listen to him. However we can't take that chance.

"There you are!" Hikari yelled, shocking me out of thought. "You completely skipped out of clean-up for the auction."

"Oh, sorry about that, something came up that I had to take care of." I replied.

"What was so important that you had to disappear?"

"I'll explain when the others get here, it affects all of us."

"What does?" Iris asked as she and Okami walked in the room.

"Perfect timing' I thought to myself. "Well since both of you are here now, I can explain."

I took in a deep breath and thought about where I should start. I went through the events that just happened and explained my encounter with P.o.H. Each one of them sat in silence as I told them what happened but I could tell that they had millions of questions they wanted to ask.

"…so as far as I can tell he knows about game masters but he might think that I'm the only one. As long as you guys keep your G.M. power usage to a minimum, he shouldn't suspect any of you." I finished explaining.

"How do we know he won't tell anyone that you're a game master?" Okami asked. "We should just go hunt him down and kill him."

"We can't afford to do that." Iris chimed in.

"Why the heck not? If this P.o.H. guy is trying to blackmail us, we should put a stop to it before things get out of hand."

"We aren't letting him get away with anything, but we can't just take him without raising suspicion." I started. "We don't know where he is or where his guild is based, and even if we did we can't kill him. From our reports, Laughing Coffin is the number one player killer guild, for their leader to just up and vanish would raise too much suspicion if we don't plan carefully. You have to remember that we can't draw any attention towards the thought of a higher power in the game. We shouldn't worry too much though because there aren't going to be many players that would believe a player killer, especially the most infamous one of them all."

Even if the problem was temporarily solved, we still had to think of a way out of this situation. Hopefully we could come up with something buy until then we had to move on.

"Alright," I announced, "it's been a long day so why don't we get some rest and figure all this out later."

Everyone mutter their agreement and shuffled to their rooms, leaving me in the foyer of the palace. As I started heading towards my own room, Heathcliff teleported into the palace. I was a bit surprised to see him here since he only comes around for the monthly meeting, any more than that would be likely to raise suspicions about him.

"Heathcliff, sir." I called to him as he approached me. "I thought you were busy leading your guild." I always found it strange that Heathcliff chose to run a guild, especially one of the most powerful guilds, while he was in the game. I would have figured he would want to play a god in this world that he created but he seemed content being like one of the players.

"I managed to free up a little of my time and decided to would drop by. If anything important happens I'm sure my second-in-command will take care of it while I'm away." He responded.

"Well there isn't anything in particular to report aside from the notion that a player killer might know about game masters." I informed him.

"Well that seems like a problem."

"We are currently handling the situation and formulating a plan to counter and prevent this from spreading. Right now we are safe because the general populace will not pay much attention to the announcements of a player killer so we are currently in a stalemate."

"I see. Well I'm sure you can handle this without my intervention. Just make sure nothing drastic happens and that our involvement as game masters isn't reveled."

"Yes sir!"

With that Heathcliff went further into the palace and left me to my thoughts. This whole thing was a major pain but it had to be dealt with immediately. As I sat in the foyer for a couple more minutes, a plan started forming in my head and I finally figured out what to do.

"I've got it!"


End file.
